The present invention relates to a systems for locating persons or objects at predetermined times and under predefined emergency situations in allowed and disallowed areas.
Recent incidences showed how easy it is to abduct a person, and how difficult it is to trace the whereabouts of an abducted person. In some of the incidences the abducted person was not even aware of being abducted until the person was already moved to a place far away from the location of abduction. There is often no possibility for the abducted person to give a warning.
At present there is no security system that can prevent well planned abductions. The lack of safeguards is significant in child care cases. Rather than providing increased security by severe restrictions of movement the device of the present invention improves security by determining the location of the person and matching the determined location with listed allowed locations. The allowed locations may be time dependent.
Locating systems presently used monitor the distance between the object device and a reference location device by monitoring the signals exchanged between the object device and the reference location device. As soon as the object comes closer to the reference point, or separates from the reference point by more than a predetermined space, an alarm is issued. Such a system provides for an alarm on/off situation but cannot assist in locating the object which is outside an allowed area.
The system of the present invention provides a method of protecting individuals by allowing them to "wear" a device that locates its own position independent of a monitoring terminal and will transmit that information to the monitoring terminal when activated. Activation of the device can be done manually, by pressing a button, or can happen automatically if the wearer is leaving a predefined zone. Anti-tampering circuitry is provided that activates if removal or destruction of the device is attempted.
The same technology can also be applied to detect theft of vehicles and other mobile or stationary valuable property. The fact that the protected person or item can be tracked will allow a rapid rescue or recovery.
Recent advances in navigation, communication, and computer technologies combined provide for the breakthrough. Existing infrastructures such as the navigation network, the mobile communications network, and emergency and security services are used.
Most homes and businesses today are protected by fairly elaborate security systems. The technologies include infrared and ultrasonic motion detectors and video surveillance systems. Some systems are wired to monitoring services or patrolled by guards for around-the-clock protection. These systems cost thousands of dollars to install and security services add more to the cost every month. New technologies are continually developed, however, crime is still increasing. The present invention overcomes these and other deficiencies in a new approach using global position information for locating a person or an object to be protected. In the following specification the device attached to the person or object to be protected is called a `beacon` to underscore one of its most important functions: send out a message identifying itself and its position.